Creating and Editing Custom Document Information Panels from Office SharePoint Server 2007

Summary:  Learn how to create and edit custom document information panels in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Applies to:  2007 Microsoft Office System, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Joel Krist, Akona Systems

July 2007

The Document Information Panel, displayed in Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel 2007, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 documents, enables users to view and change the properties for an individual file or for a content type that is saved to a document management server, such as a Document Workspace site or a library based on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. These properties, or metadata (data that describes other data, for example, the words in a document are data; the word count is an example of metadata), are details about a file that describe or identify it. Users employ these properties to organize, identify, and search for documents. One of the ways you can create and edit a custom Document Information Panel is by starting from the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 user interface. You choose the content type for which to create or edit a custom Document Information Panel. Office SharePoint Server 2007 starts Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 and supplies the content type schema as the primary data source, and the automatically generated form as a starting point. After you edit the form, you publish it directly to the content type or to another location. This Office Visual How To shows how to create and edit a custom Document Information Panel from SharePoint Server 2007.

Watch the Video Length: 09:26 | Size: 11.2 MB | Type: WMV file

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Code It

To show how to create or edit a custom Document Information Panel from SharePoint Server 2007, this section walks through five key steps:

1. Creating an Office Word 2007 document template to use as the document template for a custom SharePoint Server 2007 content type.

2. Creating site columns to use with a custom SharePoint Server 2007 content type.

3. Creating a custom SharePoint Server 2007 content type and associating the document template and site columns created in Steps 1 and 2 with the content type.

4. Creating a custom Document Information Panel for the content type created in Step 3.

5. Creating a SharePoint Server 2007 document library and adding the content type created in Step 3 to the document library.

Create an Office Word 2007 Document Template

This Office Visual How To uses the example of a project status report document to demonstrate how to work with a custom Document Information Panel. In the first step, you create a template for the project status report.

1. Start Microsoft Word 2007.

2. Type some text into the document to identify it as a project status report; for example, This is a project status report. For this How To, the actual text is not important.

3. Save the document as a Word 2007 template (*.dotx) named Project Status Report Template.dotx.

4. Exit Word.

   Figure 1. Saving the Word template

   

Create Site Columns

The next step is to define two project status report-related site columns. You can use SharePoint site columns to define a set of shared columns that you can reuse across multiple libraries and content types.

1. In SharePoint Server 2007, click Site Actions, click Site Settings, and then click Modify All Site Settings.

   Figure 2. Modify All Site Settings

   

2. On the Site Settings page, in the Galleries category, click the Site columns link. The Site Column Gallery page appears.

   Figure 3. Site columns

   

3. To create a site column, click the Create link. The New Site Column page appears.

   Figure 4. Create a site column

   

4. Create a column with the following properties:

   • Column Name: Project Name

   • The type of information in this column is: Single line of text

   • Put this site column into: New group. Name the new group Project Status Report.

   • Require that this column contains information: Yes

   Leave the defaults for the remaining properties.

5. Click OK to create the new column. The Site Column Gallery page appears.

6. Click the Create link to create a site column. The New Site Column page appears.

7. Create a column with the following properties:

   • Column Name: Project Status

   • The type of information in this column is: Choice (menu to choose from)

   • Put this site column into: Existing group. Select the Project Status Report group created in Step 4.

   • Require that this column contains information: Yes

     Type each choice on a separate line:

     Design

     Implementation

     Testing

     Complete

   • Display choices using: Drop-Down menu

   • Allow 'Fill-in' choices: No

   • Default value: Choice. Select Design.

8. Click OK to create the column. The Site Column Gallery page appears.

Create a Content Type

Next, you create a Project Status Report content type. Defining a content type creates a template that you can reuse in multiple libraries, and which can help to standardize the documents created and stored in a document library.

1. In SharePoint Server 2007, click Site Actions. On the Site Settings menu, click Modify All Site Settings.

2. On the Site Settings page in the Galleries category, click the Site content types link. The Site Content Type Gallery page appears.

   Figure 5. Site content types

   

3. Click the Create link to create a site content type. The New Site Content Type page appears.

   Figure 6. Create Site content type

   

4. Specify the following values for the new content type:

   • Name: Project Status Report

   • Description: Create a new Project Status Report

   • Select parent content type from: Document Content Types

   • Parent Content Type: Document

   • Put this site content type into: New group. Name the new group Project Status Report.

5. Click OK to create the content type. The Site Content Type: Project Status Report page appears.

6. Associate the site columns created previously with the new content type. Click the Add from existing site columns link in the Columns section of the page. The Add Columns to Site Content Type: Project Status Report page appears.

   Figure 7. Add from existing site columns

   

7. In the Select columns from list, select the Project Status Report group.

8. Select and add the Project Name and Project Status columns.

9. To add the columns, click OK. The Site Content Type: Project Status Report page appears.

   Figure 8. Selecting Project Status Report Column

   

10. Associate the Word Project Status Report document template created previously with the Project Status Report content type. Click the Advanced settings link in the Settings section of the page. The Site Content Type Advanced Settings: Project Status Report page appears.

    Figure 9. Advanced settings

    

11. Click Upload a new document template, and then click Browse. In the Choose file dialog box, navigate to the folder containing the Project Status Report Template.dotx document created previously, select the file, and then click Open.

    Figure 10. Upload a new document template

    

12. Click OK to specify the document template for the Project Status Report content type. The Site Content Type: Project Status Report page appears.

Create a Custom Document Information Panel

You can create a custom Document Information Panel for the Project Status Report content type by following these steps.

1. On the Site Content Type: Project Status Report page, click the Document Information Panel settings link in the Settings section of the page. The Document Information Panel Settings: Project Status Report page appears.

   Figure 11. Document Information Panel Settings

   

2. Click the Create a new custom template link. Office InfoPath 2007 starts with the Data Source Wizard. Click Finish to load the template for the Project Status Report content type.

   Figure 12. Create a new custom template

   

3. Edit the template by selecting the Horizontal Region for the Title property and deleting it. All that should remain on the form are the controls for the Project Name and Project Status properties.

   Figure 13. Document Information Panel template in InfoPath

   

4. To save the template, on the File menu, click Save. InfoPath displays a message about the need to publish the template after you finish designing it. Click OK and InfoPath displays the Save As dialog box. Specify a location and name for the template, and then click Save.

5. Publish the changed template to SharePoint Server. On the File menu, click Publish. InfoPath displays the Publishing Wizard with the option to publish the template as a Document Information Panel template for a SharePoint site content type or list content type selected. Keep this selection, and then click Next. The Publishing Wizard shows the publishing location information.

   Figure 14. InfoPath Publishing Wizard

   

6. Click Publish. InfoPath publishes the template to the Project Status Report content type. Click Close to exit the Publishing Wizard.

   Figure 15. Publish the Document Information Panel template

   

7. Exit InfoPath.

Create a Document Library

Create a SharePoint document library for Project Status Reports by following these steps.

1. In SharePoint Server 2007, click Site Actions. Click Site Settings, and then click Modify All Site Settings. The Site Settings page appears.

2. On the Site Settings page in the Site Administration category, click the Site libraries and lists link. The Site Libraries and Lists page appears.

   Figure 16. Site libraries and lists

   

3. Click the Create new content link. The Create page appears.

   Figure 17. Create new content

   

4. Select the Document Library link in the Libraries category. The New page appears.

   Figure 18. Create a document library

   

5. Specify the following values for the properties of the new document library:

   • Name: Project Status Reports

   • Description: A library for Project Status Reports

   • Document Template: Microsoft Office Word document

   Figure 19. Document library properties

   

6. Click Create to create the library. The Project Status Reports library page appears.

7. Click the Settings menu, and then click Document Library Settings. The Customize Project Status Reports page appears.

   Figure 20. Document library settings

   

8. Select the Advanced settings link in the General Settings section of the page. The Document Library Advanced Settings: Project Status Reports page appears.

   Figure 21. Advanced settings

   

9. In the Content Types section, click Yes for Allow management of content types. Click OK to save the change. The Customize Project Status Reports page appears with the Content Types section now visible.

   Figure22. Allow management of content types

   

10. Select the Add from existing site content types link in the Content Types section of the page. The Add Content Types: Project Status Reports page appears.

    Figure 23. Add from existing site content types

    

11. Select the Project Status Report content type group in the Select site content types from drop-down list. Select and add the Project Status Report content type.

    Figure 24. Add Project Status Report content type

    

12. Click OK to add the content type to the library. The Customize Project Status Reports page appears.

13. Click the Document Content Type link in the Content Types section of the page. The List Content Type: Document page appears.

    Figure 25. Document content type

    

14. Click the Delete this content type link in the Settings section of the page. Click OK when prompted for verification to delete the content type. The Customize Project Status Reports page appears.

    Figure 26. Delete this content type

    

To test the custom Document Information Panel, navigate to the Project Status Reports SharePoint document library. On the New menu, click Project Status Report.

Figure 27. Create a new Project Status Report document

A warning message might be displayed regarding the dangers of opening files from the Internet. Click OK button to close the message box. Word 2007 opens with the Project Status Report document loaded. The custom Document Information Panel appears, showing the Project Name and Project Status properties. Editing the document and then saving it publishes the document to the Project Status Reports SharePoint document library.

Figure 28. Custom Document Information Panel

Read It

This Office Visual How To explores how to create or edit a custom Document Information Panel from Office SharePoint Server 2007. This How To addresses the following key steps:

• Creating an Office Word 2007 document template to use as the document template for a custom SharePoint Server 2007 content type.

• Creating site columns to use with a custom SharePoint Server 2007 content type.

• Creating a custom SharePoint Server 2007 content type and associating a document template and site columns with the content type.

• Creating a custom Document Information Panel for the content type.

• Creating a SharePoint Server 2007 document library and adding the content type to it.

Explore It

• SharePoint Server Developer Center

• Office Developer Center on MSDN

• Document Information Panel Overview

• Custom Document Information Panels

• How to: Create or Edit a Custom Document Information Panel from within Office SharePoint Server 2007